200 YEARS LATER
Sashi Sivramkrishna, Heisnam Bison Singh

Deccan Herald, India
Sept 17 2005

A Ganesha idol that hid a bounty,oranges grown by Armenians, temples
as old as thousand years and a Rajput settlement, all right here in
the outskirts of Bangalore. These are some teresting facts uncovered
in tracing Francis Buchanan’s trail.

More than 200 years later we are now working on a project retracing
Buchanan’s journey. It took Buchanan a year and few months to complete
this task; we realized that ours would take even longer. On his journey
from Madras to Seringapatnam (now Chennai to Srirangapatnam) via
Bangalore, Buchanan had passed through a place called Satghadam. This
article revisits Buchanan’s journey from Satghadam to Bangalore;
it is an excerpt from our work thus far and barely 20 pages out of
Buchanan’s tour de force of 1500 pages.

Satgudi is a small village. A narrow street which passes through it was
lined with houses on both sides, people sitting in their verandahs,
busy rolling beedis. To our right was a steep hill rising up to a
height of about 1000 feet. Perched along the ridge of the hill was a
fort wall. This was no doubt Satghadam or Elamulla Durga that Buchanan
speaks off … the seven hill forts.

“The hills approaching here, a stone wall, with a gateway, marks
the boundary of Satghadam. On the north this gate is commanded by a
naked rocky hill, irregularly fortified by various walls and castles,
after the country fashion. These are called Satghadam, the Decany
pronunciation of Satghur, or the seven castles …”

We began our climb to the fort ruins at half past noon. As we reached
the top of the hills, we saw a fort wall running across the granite
rocks. Several more structures began to appear, including doorways,
a few brick rooms, a horse stable, a stone room with an inscription
on the roof mentioning 1905 June, and another with a half moon and
circle. We noticed something else interesting in one of the doorways.

A Ganesha carved on a stone pillar.

Human sacrifice

Buchanan says nothing about Satghadam’s history. Searching through
the 1895 Manual of North Arcot District, we found some interesting
information. The fort was possibly constructed by the Marathas, and
later came to be occupied and modified by later Mohamedan rulers. The
natural hollows in the rocks were ingeniously utilized as powder
magazines. The District Manual narrates an interesting story about a
Ganesha idol in the fort which bore an inscription, “Twist the neck
and take the money”. This was supposed to refer to the sacrifice of
a human victim, and no one was willing to earn wealth at such a price.

Then one day, a bairagi, twisted the neck of the idol itself and
found a bounty of gold coins, which he appropriated.

“The principal cultivation in it is that of dry grains, with some
fruit gardens, for which it is celebrated.”

On our way down, we stopped at what seemed like a watch tower. From
here we could see the fertile plain below that Buchanan speaks off.

Buchanan had also noted the cultivation of a large variety of fruits
below Satghadam. Today, some of the best custard apple in South
India comes from this area. Pomegranate, banana and mango are also
grown here.

“The Nabob (of Arcot) has here an extensive garden, which he lets
to some Armenians at Madras. The fruit, especially the oranges, are
reckoned the best in the Carnatic, and the choicest are sent to the
Nabob, and other persons of distinction.”

Armenians here?

Buchanan had noted that some of the best oranges in the Carnatic were
grown here by some Armenians. These fruit gardens belonged almost
entirely to one family. But we found no cultivation of oranges.

Buchanan made no mistake about the oranges at Satgudi. The District
Manual confirmed this. Till 1895, oranges were still to be found here,
though the trees were dying out. It adds that the grafts taken from
Satgudi survive at Vellore, Ambur and some other places.

“I am gravely informed by my interpreter, a Brahman, that he has
relations, who live by performing a variety of wonderful feats. Among
others, they can make a mango stone, in the course of four hours,
shoot out a small tree a foot high…”

No one was aware of this old mango trick! Buchanan explains in detail
the way it was done; definitely worth a try.

“I went to Naiekan Eray, by the Pedda Naikana Durga Pass …the
mountains of the Ghats have not quite so barren an aspect as those to
the east; and contains many trees, some of which are fit for timber…”

“The country about Naiekan Eray rises into swells, like the land in
many parts of England, and is overlooked by the high barren peaks of
the Ghats, which close the view to the eastward. Among these peaks,
the most remarkable is that occupied by Pedda Naiekana Durga, or the
Great Chief’s castle…”

“Specimens of the following trees were brought to me, as being
the most useful trees on the Ghats of this place. The names are in
Telinga… Nara Vaypa, Yegu, Naro, Neruddy, Muddi, Topissi…”

The Pedda Nayakan Durga Pass cuts through the Eastern Ghats and is
an important elephant corridor. That morning five elephants were
spotted by the local people in the neighbourhood. Electric fences
have been installed to direct the elephants through the forests
and prevent them from straying into cultivated fields. Naiekaneri
is now a Reserve Forest. The local people and forest officials were
most helpful and confirmed that all the twenty species mentioned by
Buchanan are still found here.

Great chief’s castle

Remnants of the fort still stand on a hill about half a kilometer
away from the road. The fort was a stronghold of the Palegar of
Charagal. Colonel Oldham had camped at Pedda Nayakana Durga in 1791,
from where he joined Lord Cornwallis at Venkatagiri. This was perhaps
the last important event witnessed by this fort.

“Vencataghery was formerly the usual residence of the Pedda Naieka
Polygar, and the ruins of his fort are still conspicuous. It is built
on a rising ground…”

Buchanan’s next stop was Venkatagiri, where he saw the remains of a
fort and palace. Today this town is called V Kote, Kote meaning fort.

Surprisingly people here were completely unaware of any fort in the
vicinity. After repeated enquiries, we were told that we could find
a stupa nearby an old temple. This was definitely the old fort. It
was on rising ground just as Buchanan says, with an old temple and
a granite pillar. All but gone, even in people’s memory.

“In the morning I went to Baydamungulum; leaving on my right a hill
crowned with a fortress, and a temple dedicated to Seitadevi…”

On our way out of V. Kote, we could find no Sitadevi temple or a
fortress that Buchanan had seen. But we found a mantapa on a small
hill to the north of the town. This hillock comes to the right when
exiting V. Kote towards Betmangala. We were sure that this was the
fortress that Buchanan mentions. The temple is not here anymore;
perhaps the idol may have actually been shifted to another temple.

People mentioned to us that there was a Sita temple some ten kilometers
away.

“I went sixteen miles to Tayculum … the last two miles of our road
lay between two immense piles of granite, gradually crumbling into
fragments that roll down into the plain’.

“The soils here are impregnated with salt … The natives allege that
if they walk on this saline earth, their bare feet become blistered.”

“Tayculum is strongly situated at the end of a small hill of granite,
and has a triple wall, each line strengthened with various defences …

On the outside of the hill is a temple of Siva, and within it one of
Vishnu; both of which are ruinuous.”

Though the landscape seemed dry and arid at many places, there was
no knowledge of saline soil in the area. The biggest problem faced
now is the scarcity of water, forcing people to migrate to Bangalore.

National Highway 4 or “Old Madras Road” from Chennai to Bangalore
via Kolar is sometimes called “Tekal Bypass”. With it, development
too seems to have bypassed this small village.

Tekal may not have changed much from what Buchanan may have seen.

Imprisoned by barren rocky hills on both sides, Tekal’s surroundings
is a picture of stark beauty. We located both, the Shiva and Vishnu
temples, each situated on either side of the road. The Shiva temple was
in ruins, but the Vishnu temple is in better condition and undergoing
repair. The archaka family has been in charge of the temple for
generations. They say it the temple was built by the Cholas, making
it about a thousand years old. At one point of time, they say Tekal
had 101 temples, 101 tanks and 101 orchards. Today only a few houses
and two temples survive, barely.

“The mud here is excellent for making walls. It is a reddish
ferruginuous clay intermixed with small fragments of quartz, and
other materials of decayed granite; and a wall constructed of it will,
with tolerable care, resist the rains for many years.”

As we drove towards Malur, Buchanan’s Waluru, we noticed several brick
factories; SVB, MSB, VBS, CBI, LBW… Buchanan had pointed out that
the mud in this region was extremely well suited for making walls,
and could resist the rains for several years. We spoke to a worker
at one of the factories and his comment was just the same.

“Put the brick in water for a day and it won’t even crack”.

“Waluru is a town containing about five hundred houses, and by far
the richest, and best built, that I have yet seen above the Ghats.

Most of the houses… are in general clean, and, had they any windows,
would be comfortable.”

“The town consists of a castle, of a fort or city, and of a Petta
or a suburb. The castle is occupied by a Rajput and fifteen of his
family… formerly Jaghirdars of this place…”

“At this place there is a weekly fair; and today one was kept, to which
people flocked in great numbers from all the neighbouring country.”

Waluru to Malur

Malur seems to have lost its looks, at least that which Buchanan
had seen. Today it is but another typical small town with iron rods
jutting out from unfinished concrete structures. We passed through
Malur on a Thursday. It was the also the day of the week that Buchanan
had seen the weekly fair at Malur. This tradition continues even now
but the market was a rather sad sight with just a few vendors selling
vegetables. The facade of the marketplace, now in ruins, seemed to
indicate that it could have been an important place many years ago.

We had one more thing to check at Malur; the Rajput families that
Buchanan spoke of. There are quite a few Rajput families still living
here, perhaps 25. We were directed to one Rajaram Singh who knew that
his roots were from Rajasthan but nothing more.

“In this neighbourhood are many kitchen gardens, which are very well
cultivated … the gardens are on sloping ground, watered from wells
by the Yatam, or, as the English say, by the Pacota…”

“In the morning I traveled from Catcolli to Bangalore, through a very
naked country, of which about six tenths appear to be arable. The
remainder is covered with low bushes, and much of it seems capable
of being brought into cultivation.”

.. Catcolli to Kadgodi .

Our next stop was Kadgodi. There was nothing to write home about from
this small town which seems to await Bangalore’s arrival. En route
to Kadgodi we noticed an old well, dry and abandoned. We were told
it was attached to a local temple long ago. Buchanan had seen several
wells in this area that watered kitchen gardens. Today we still find
many vegetables being cultivated here to serve the Bangalore market.

We met a farmer who has built a nylon netted sheltered nursery for
cabbage, tomato and cauliflowers.

Rural India is changing … its landscapes may soon be covered with
sheets of plastic.

The road from Kadgodi to Bangalore is no longer “naked”. Almost
immediately after Kadgodi is Whitefield, now a suburb of Bangalore.

It is now one of the most sought after residential areas, apart from
being a major industrial and software hub.

It is more than 200 years since Buchanan made his journey, a period
which covers our entire colonial and post-colonial history. Even as
the sun sets on our past, the shadows linger on. The question is,
for how much longer?

For details log onto

1799. The Fourth War of Mysore brought with it an end to Tipu Sultan’s
life and his rule over Mysore. With this began the British East India
Company’s influence over the region.

1800. Dr. Francis Buchanan was appointed by the Company to carry out
a comprehensive survey of the region. Buchanan made the objective of
his mission clear in the rather long title of his book, “A Journey
from Madras through the Countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar
for the Express Purpose of Investigating the State of Agriculture,
Arts and Commerce; the Religion, Manners, and Customs; the History
Natural and Civil, and Antiquities in the Dominions of the Rajah of
Mysore and the Countries Acquired by the Honourable East India Company,
in the Late and Former Wars, from Tippoo Sultan”.